Monday, January 26, 2009

Brooklyn Baby

I can't talk about Mr. Mop and not tell you about his little brother, Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is a ten-month old Bichon/Yorkie cross. He is very cute. He is not nearly as clever as Mop, but what he lacks in brain he makes up for in complete sweetness. Since I brought him home, Brooklyn has been the most chill, easy going puppy. He gets hyper for approximately three minutes and then is pooped out. He loves pigeons. He is afraid of nearly everything (except pigeons), which includes children. This fear is derived from the weekend my three-year-old niece stayed with me. She insisted on carrying Brooklyn everywhere he went. He now hates little people.

Brooklyn gets picked on a lot by Mop, mostly because Mop is jealous. But when I try to cuddle Mop the same way I cuddle Brooklyn, he growls. It's a case of "I don't want you cuddling anybody". Brooklyn often has his head eaten or his back jumped on but has recently been getting his own in the form of biting Mop's tail and dragging him around. Being only eight pounds he doesn't get far.

Brooklyn and Mop fight like human brothers but they love like gay lovers. I often find Brooklyn on his back with his eyes closed as Mop goes to town 'grooming' his face and belly. As soon as I walk into the room they break apart like naughty teenagers. At the dog park, Mop chases other dogs and Brooklyn tries to keep up. When he can't, Mop lets him hold onto his tail. It's very cute. And if a dog picks on Brooklyn, Mop beats him up - well, beats him up dog style so basically growls.

Brooklyn does not provide as many funny stories as his brother, but that's okay. He is my gentle sweetie pie who I can take anywhere because he is just so lovable and sweet. Except for his annoying game of 'let's run away and bark when the leash comes out' or 'it's fun to wake mum up at six in the morning by sitting on her head'.

He has a breath problem. For some reason, food gets really stuck in his teeth causing him to smell like an outhouse. At first, I did not know what the problem was so changed his diet and got him breath biscuits. Then I opened his mouth and was blown away (literally) by the reek. He had crap stuck in all of his teeth. It took me, the Engineer, and my friend K (she just took photos so didn't really help) holding him down and scrubbing his teeth with a facecloth. The toothbrush just did not work. You would think brushing the teeth of an eight-pound dog would be easy, but no, it isn't. They are squiggly little monsters who can move their heads around in exorcist-like contortions. It took about twenty minutes, a blanket to wrap him in and the Engineer using a pillow to force his head to stay still to get the offending odors out.

How does the Engineer act with my dogs? He's coming around. Slowly but surely. They aren't allowed in the bed when we are together. But I do sneak Brooklyn in around 3 when he asks to come in (he sleeps at my tummy like a hot water bottle). Apparently it's not a secret, the Engineer knows. Also, when I go out and leave the boys at home with him, he ties Mop to the bed so that he doesn't jump and slam himself into the door. The Engineers' other pet peeve is me referring to myself in third person as 'mummy'. He really hates that (He also hates it when new dads send emails out that say 'mum and baby are healthy'). He feels strongly one should refer to themselves in first person and others should refer to them by name. I have caught him talking about the dogs as 'ours' a couple of times, I take it as a sign that he loves them.

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About Me

This blog started out as a record of my adventures of being a bridesmaid (eight times!) but has since turned into tales of raising two dogs, a bi-coastal romance, and horror stories about life as an actress in Vancouver/New York.